Ben_B0m, Author at Corinthian

30 May 2018

Gone are the days when providing a company pension indicated a forward-thinking, benevolent employer.

The new tax year marks more than five years since auto-enrolment was introduced. The compulsory minimum contribution by employers into workplace pensions has now increased to 2% of earnings. This will rise to 3% in April 2019. Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) shows the number of employees in the private sector with workplace pensions more than doubled between April 2012 (32%) and April 2018 (67%). The IFS state that this was a direct result of the introduction of auto-enrolment. According to the Pensions Regulator (tPR), auto-enrolment saw 9 million people joining a workplace pension by the end of 2017.

Today, with pensions an integrated part of employment, the progressive employer is much more likely to offer employee benefits and services to staff, a decision which can be mutually rewarding in a number of ways. In addition to offering expert pension advice, Corinthian’s specialist team of employee benefits consultants can create a comprehensive Employee Benefits Package, tailored to the specific requirements of your business, from our extensive range of company benefits. With over 25 years’ experience in helping SMEs with their workplace pensions and benefit schemes, Corinthian offers extensive knowledge and guidance in these areas.

Here we answer some of the most frequent questions asked by employers…

What other benefits can I offer my employees?

The options available to the employer looking to create a benefits package for employees include:

Private Medical Insurance
Dental Plan
Health Cash Plans
Group Income Protection
Gym membership
Total Reward Statements
Voluntary benefits
Share incentive plans
Relevant Life Assurance
Group Life Assurance

From allowing dogs at work to flexible working, employee benefits can include anything that your employees might value.

Developed with SMEs in mind, Corinthian offers the Total Rewards Portal, a flexible complete benefits and management solution. Featuring a comprehensive administration area where data can be uploaded, reports generated and employee records viewed, edited or personalised. The portal delivers a highly effective means of managing data, people, holiday and other absences. In addition, the Total Rewards Statements generated by the portal provides employees with a summary of the overall value of their financial rewards, including base pay, incentives and employee benefits. This not only educates employees about their benefits but helps them understand the value of them.

HR Magazine states that when an employee benefits package, such as the Total Rewards Portal, is implemented alongside other benefits such as flexible working, support for parental leave and other family-related policies, it provides a powerful mix for managing skills and talent in an organisation.

What are the advantages of providing employee benefits?

In providing company benefits, a business proactively nurtures its relationship with employees, consequently reinforcing brand identity within the workforce. When staff identify with their organisation, they’re more likely to feel a sense of belonging and loyalty to the business. This results in a workforce that is easier to motivate and contributes more to the smooth running of your organisation.

Provision of employee benefits programs can also offer some financial savings e.g. employer NI contributions decrease under salary exchange schemes. However, arguably the most important factor to consider is how employee retention improves when employees receive more than standard pensions.

Why is employee retention important?

High employee turnover can be bad for business, creating unease within the organisation, affecting staff morale and depleting businesses of time and money in recruiting replacements. Conversely, investing in employee retention can offer a return over and above the financial savings of employing and training new staff.

Those gains include:

Increased productivity – happy staff stay longer and are more productive, doing a better job for your business.
Corporate identity – experienced employees work better in the ways and style of your business, and they are better able to promote it.
Culture – positivity is contagious, resulting in less conflict in the workplace. An ethos of support and encouragement leads colleagues to help each other succeed.
Customer relationships – that ethos filters through to those you are in business for, creating satisfied, loyal customers who want to continue doing business with you.

If you want to find out how your business can take advantage of these gains and more, speak to a Corinthian consultant today.

3 May 2018

Corinthian Benefits have been nominated for 3 awards!

We’re absolutely delighted to have been nominated for 3 awards. Corinthian are finalists in three categories of the Corporate Adviser Awards:

Best Auto-Enrolment Proposition
Best Pension Adviser
Corporate Adviser Small Firm of the Year

The awards night is Tuesday 3rd July and naturally, we’ll keep you all posted.

See the Corporate Adviser article here.

You can also check out some of Corinthian’s other successes:

1 May 2018

A recent survey found that 70% of UK workers would consider leaving their current job. Up to 24% are actively seeking new opportunities and 46% are passively looking. This is a huge percentage of your workforce that could be looking around for a better deal. And with the high cost of recruitment, employee retention has never been so crucial.

The same study found that 62% of UK workers do not believe they are valued at work. This is a huge disconnect from the 56% of employers surveyed who believed their workforce did feel valued.

So, why the gap?

You might offer your staff a 5% pension contribution (3% over the employer minimum), early finishes on Fridays and an amazing Christmas party. So why are you losing good employees?

What could you be doing wrong?

1. They don’t know what you’re offering.
Your employees may not know about the tax-free cycle to work scheme, local discounts or your financial advice offering – much less how to make use of these perks.

2. They don’t know how it benefits them.
Your employees might know that you offer life insurance. But they might not understand that this means £50,000 to a person of their choosing to help avoid financial difficulties should anything happen to them.

3. They don’t know what their benefits are worth.
For perks that aren’t ‘money in your pocket’, it’s easy for staff to forget how much they gain from them. Flexible working hours could save your employees money, or it could improve their quality of life, fitting work around their lifestyle. And that can be just as important.

4. They don’t want the benefits you are offering.
Do you have quite a young office? Life insurance might not mean much to them. Perhaps you could consider swapping that for discounted gym memberships. Maybe you live in an area where places at an NHS dentist are few and far between and your workforce would benefit much more from dental cover than local discounts.

The key is communication

At Corinthian, we offer Total Rewards Statements which helps an employer listen, inform and show the value to employees.

• Listen – listening and understanding what matters to your employees. A local Corinthian representative can offer advice on how to decide which benefits your employees will benefit from the most.

• Inform – informing your staff of the benefits that you are providing them. Corinthian’s Total Rewards Statements include a white-label online portal. Employees can log on and clearly see everything offered to them.

• Show the value – to make sure your staff can see the value of everything you offer. For example, with the Total Rewards Statements, all employee benefits are given a monetary value to helps employees think of more than just their salary when they consider what they gain out of working for you.

Having benefits your employees want, see and understand will help them feel valued and improve employee satisfaction and retention.

To find out more about Total Rewards Statements and how they can benefit your company, speak to a Corinthian consultant today.

11 April 2018

This month, your pension contributions will automatically go up – so what does this increase mean for you? Whatever your situation, there are four things to know about 2018’s pension contribution increase. These tips will help you to make the most out of this change in legislation.

1. If you currently overpay on your pension, nothing will change

If you currently contribute the minimum 1% to your pension, April’s pension contribution increase means you should now pay 3%. However, if you currently contribute 3% or more, you won’t have to pay any more.

It’s worth noting that revised pension contribution limits mean that you can overpay your pension by up to £40,000 per year tax-free (or up to £1,030,000 in a lifetime). Therefore, this one of the most cost-effective and tax-efficient ways to save for your future. Speak to a Corinthian pension consultant to find out how to make the most of pension tax relief.

2. Your employer’s pension contribution will increase too

Unless your employer currently contributes 2% or more to your workplace pension scheme, the new legislation doubles what they have to pay. It will go from 1% to 2% of your pensionable pay.

This will bring your total minimum contribution from you and your employer combined from 2% to 5%. This, as you can imagine, will have a significant impact on your final pension pot.

3. There are even more pension contribution increases to come

From April 2019, you and your employer can expect to pay even more into your pension, bringing overall contributions to 8%.

Your employer must increase their contribution from 2% to 3%. And you will have to pay a minimum of 5% into your workplace pension.

The table below offers a helpful breakdown of these changes:

4. Making pension contributions via Salary Sacrifice could save you money

If these scheduled pension contribution increases worry you, there is a solution. These mandated pension increases could be rendered barely noticeable if you make your contributions via Salary Sacrifice.

Salary Sacrifice – or Salary Exchange – enables employees to make their pension contributions from their pre-taxed pay – increasing your overall net income. This means that you’ll pay less tax and National Insurance which will compensate for the increase in your pension contributions.

Salary Sacrifice can provide significant savings for employers too. They can save around £1,500 per annum for just 12 members (each with an average salary of £30,000 paying 3% with a 13.8% NI saving). You can do this by engaging with a specialist pension and benefits consultant like Corinthian.

For more advice about pension increases or to find out how much money you can save, speak to a Corinthian consultant today.

3 April 2018

Illegal opt-out firm in first Regulator prosecution under Computer Misuse Act

Managers of a recruitment firm are accused of logging into the employee portal of their workplace pensions site to opt them out of auto-enrolment. They now face prosecution by The Pensions Regulator (TPR).

TPR is prosecuting national recruitment firm Workchain Ltd, as well as its directors and some senior staff on the suspicion that they illegally opted employees out of their pension scheme.

Workchain Ltd, formerly known as Smart Recruitment UK Ltd, is accused of logging into its workplace pension scheme’s online system using employees’ personal details, to terminate their membership of the scheme. TPR says this is contrary to the terms of use of the system, which requires employees to opt-out themselves.

Senior managers and directors have been charged with unauthorised access to a computer programme. This goes against section 1(1) of the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

Directors Phil Tong, 40 and Adam Hinkley, 39, both from Derbyshire are both being prosecuted. Alongside them are five other senior staff aged between 31 and 38 years.

This is the first time that TPR has launched prosecutions for this offence.

The defendants have been summoned to appear at Derby Magistrates’ Court on 7 June 2018.

26 March 2018

A quarter of employers don’t know that Auto Enrolment contributions are increasing

Did you know? More than a quarter of senior business decision makers are unaware that auto-enrolment minimum contributions are increasing on 6 April. Also, almost half do not know how much they are increasing, according to research.

Read the whole Corporate Adviser article here.

Why not also take a look at the important things you should know about the increase.

19 March 2018

Protecting Defined Benefits Pension Schemes

The much-anticipated white paper, titled Protecting Defined Benefits Benefits Schemes is here. The Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) said it would work to improve “the effectiveness and efficiency” of the Pension Regulator’s existing anti-avoidance powers while ensuring they do not have “an adverse effect on legitimate business activity and the wider economy”.

This will include strengthening the watchdog’s information-gathering powers, “supported by penalties to drive co-operation”, such as requiring attendance at interviews, civil sanctions for non-compliance with section 72 notices – adding to existing criminal sanctions – and inspection powers, “harmonising powers” it already has for auto-enrolment and master trust schemes.

However, former Pensions Minister Steve Webb says the proposals lack teeth, with convictions likely to be difficult to achieve. He and other industry analysts have criticised the proposed pace of legislative reform. The TUC has described the paper as a missed opportunity to protect pensions. The Association of Consulting Actuaries has criticised the White Paper for not doing anything to help employers struggling with heavy DB burdens. But other industry figures have welcomed the extra powers that the proposed legislation will create.

Take a look at our other blogs on industry news:

Our very own Ann Woolfe will be competing in the London Marathon for the very first time on Sunday 22nd April.

Having had brain surgery herself, Woolfe has opted to support Brain Research UK (formerly the Brain Research Trust).

Please support Ann by visiting her Virgin Money Giving page.

15 March 2018

Is the Financial Ombudsman trying to catch us out on Defined Benefit transfers?

A great article by Nick Bamford. It highlights the issues advisers face when helping members with potential transfers out of their defined benefit (final salary) pension schemes. He explores whether the Financial Ombudsman trying to catch people out or not.

Check out another blog from Corinthian on Defined Benefits.

5 March 2018

Time to celebrate! We won the ‘Mark of Excellence’ for Client Experience.

Corinthian Benefits are delighted to announce that they have been awarded the Mark of Excellence for Client Experience by the independent assessment organisation CX Awards Limited.

The Mark of Excellence is awarded following an in-depth assessment of the Client Experience focused on the following three topic areas:

How easy is it for clients to deal with the company?
How satisfied are they with what the company does for them?
Do they trust the company enough to keep using them?

The assessment process covered the perception of clients and staff captured by online questionnaires. The response rate from clients was almost one in three – far higher than the average for client experience surveys. This means the results can be taken as fully representative.

All questions are scored out of 10 and the overall unweighted score from all respondents was 8.40. This is an excellent score for surveys of this nature and size. The average from clients was 8.17 and staff averaged 8.63.

Neil Craig, director of CX Awards commented.

“Corinthian recorded very high scores across the board. This reflects the fact that clients find them a pleasure to deal with, appreciate the support they get and invariably are very keen to keep using them.”

“Clients acknowledge Corinthian has a dedicated and professional team who are determined to make sure they serve their clients to the very best of their ability. This is echoed by staff scores and comments. Management has fostered a very positive working environment which clearly has led directly to a positive client experience.”

Respondents were also asked for written feedback about Corinthian and the following comments are typical:

“From my experience, the people I have met/contacted have been so knowledgeable and helpful. It’s nice to be able to go to the implementation team and have anyone deal with the query rather than waiting for a specific person to be available.”

“They are super friendly and helpful. Corinthian is not a pushy company and that would be something that would put me off using any company.”

Neil Craig added, “The key points coming from the staff feedback are that they feel that the business is strongly client focused and they really enjoy working at Corinthian – the perfect recipe for business success”.

As one staff member said:

“In terms of client management, we always work as hard as we can to ensure positive results. It is encouraged and embedded within the staff mentality.”

Director Lee French commented.

“We’re delighted to have received this award for the second time from an independent organisation, after receiving such positive survey feedback from both our clients and staff. Corinthian is committed to delivering an exceptional level of service to our clients in a friendly, yet professional, manner. The key to achieving this is working hard to make sure clients feel valued and happy in what they do”.